Selling a Year's Supply Of Contacts Saves You Payroll Costs

I know some Optometrists who don’t worry about selling a year’s supply of contacts.
 
They tell me that their patients buy all their contacts from them anyway, but they just don’t buy a year’s supply at one time. The assumption is that their patients call in three to four times a year, so there is no need to push it. If that is your situation, good for you, but there is one problem with that scenario. You are losing money. Let me explain.
 
Let’s say your patient gets contacts from you four times a year: at their yearly exam and every three months after that. Well, those three times that they call in throughout the year cost you money. Your employee answers the phone three times, pulls their chart/looks them up on the computer three times, orders their contacts three times, processes their orders when they come in three times, calls your patient back three times, and dispenses those contacts three times. Yeah, you received your patient’s money for a year’s supply, but you wound up making a lot less money because of payroll costs.
 
Maybe each of those interactions took 10 minutes of your employee’s time (that is a low estimate). That employee makes $12.50 an hour. Tem minutes is worth a little over $2. Since your patient keeps calling in, you paid your employee $6-$8 to process all of those orders which makes your already thin profit on contacts even smaller.
 
Selling a year’s supply at the exam is the wisest, most economical way to go for you and your patients. It saves you payroll and makes your patient encounter more efficient:  a win for you, your employee, and the patient.
 
Gordon Duncan is the CEO/Consultant of ProSight Success, advising the eye care industry.
 
If you would like to invest in transformative practices like the one above, while also finding help with your taxes, time efficiencies, and so many other things, purchase our ProSight Success System and receive an hour of free phone consultation with Gordon.